Gardening, Breakfast on the Farm, Horsing Around!

 Margie and Sunny... love at first sight!

 Kaia and Sophia are best friends, and Kaia's finally turning into a more interesting and interactive playmate for Sophia! The other day both girls had great fun when Sophia decided to "drive" Kaia around in a diaper-box car!

 Last weekend we braved our drizzly weather to attend the annual "Breakfast on the Farm..." we were surprised to find hundreds and hundreds of people there! This really is a sturdy population! They hold the breakfast at a farm on the old Steam Thresher grounds, and have lots of cool things to check out.

 Lots of farm equipment on display, including the tractors that daddy helps make!

 We checked out a 3-day old clydesdale in the horse barn. :)

 Sophia and I were excited (maybe I was more excited!) to go on the train ride... pulled by a real, miniature steam engine.

 We took the hay wagon back to our car! We also enjoyed breakfast (pancakes, strawberries, eggs and milk) and checking out the historic buildings, ice cream, and socializing with lots of local farm families. Fun!

 Sunday was a stunner! The girls and I spent LOTS of time in the garden.

 Kaia and Sophia enjoyed a little "snack picnic" in the garden.

 I've been taking pictures of all the crazy foods that Kaia eats! Here she's enjoying a quesadilla...

 And LOVING spinach ravioli!

 Sophia has been working with Pepper a LOT and now has such great confidence with him. She leads him all over the place! And he actually listens to her!

 Okay... she WASN'T excited about riding him without a leadline for the first time! But they both did great :) She's ridden him by herself twice now, and he's been a good little boy!

 When she finally got over her fear it was like a switch was flipped... she settled into riding and really enjoyed herself and was excited about her accomplishment! If she keeps it up she will soon earn her first pair of real, glittery cowgirl boots! (She has her eye on a pair at Fleet Farm!)

 Kaia pigging out on tofu... I just can't get over it! She's 8 months old and eating like a big toddler!

 Brown rice

 Sophia wanted to get in on the portrait action :) Actually, what's amazing about these pics is that I can manage to work a full 8 hours and then go home and cook a nutritious meal from scratch! No small feat! :)

 On Wednesday I took the girls to the Glyndon community center in our little downtown for an "Ice Cream Social." It was SO much fun! We signed up for 4-H, and will be going to our first 4-H meeting next week!

 The fire trucks were out for the social :)

Of course we had to hit the park after the social! We've been squeezing in as many park visits as we can... the summer is already flying by.

Kaia the little Mechanical Genius!

I finally caught (a very short) video of Kaia turning a rotating part of a baby toy. It is so interesting to me to see how Kaia's personality is developing, and I already see some big differences between her and Sophia. As I believe I've mentioned, Kaia is much more laid back and sociable than Sophia was. Kaia also seems more interested in her surroundings. It's hard to get Kaia to settle down and nurse because she's so busy trying to keep an eye on everything else that's going on! Kaia seems to favor use of her left hand (daddy is a lefty!) and seems to be developing fine motor skills more quickly... she's always picking up even the tiniest objects and, as you can see in the video, she concentrates on manipulating objects. When I call Kaia a "mechanical genius" it is of course a bit tongue in cheek, but she really is more interested in the mechanics of her toys, and it's so fascinating to watch her make these discoveries! I think that both of my girls are incredibly "bright" - smart and "shining" personalities, but I can already tell that they will have different gifts to contribute to the world. Finding and nurturing those gifts is one of the greatest aspects of parenting.

Sophia's Music Performance, the 2013 Fargo Marathon, and our new addition, Sunny!

The last couple of weeks have been very exciting!

 I had to take a picture of Sophia's latest art work. This is a unicorn. There are probably about 600 Sophia-drawn unicorns throughout our house. :)

 Sophia's school music performance!

 Sophia is standing next to her latest bestie, Gowri

 Kaia was so good for the performance, which I was grateful for since it was on a week night and Travis had to work!

 Our resident pheasant :)

 My wonderful, matching girls! Watching the sibling bond develop is just magical. Sophia can make Kaia laugh like crazy, and they already enjoy each other's company so much!

 We are finally getting quite a lot of rain, which has alternated with high fire warnings since our crazy wind tends to dry things out immediately! I think our current rainy weather will overthrow all the fire danger, though

 Sophia and Margie and Pepper having a little rainy-day fun!

 Kaia is such a chunk :)

 Last weekend (the 11th) we had our pre-marathon party! We had a big carb-heavy meal and watched "spirit of the marathon" and made signs for each other. And of course any excuse to get the family and all the cousins together is always good :)

 Sophia and Kaia hanging out with Grandpa Ralph

 Sophia helping Grandma Carmen open her Mother's Day card

 Sophia playing with grandpa and grandma's bunny

 Ava putting stickers on her face :)

 I have no idea who took this picture of me chopping veggies for the pasta sauce!

 Oldest cousin, Jaylin (who is now 11!!) with the youngest cousin, Kaia... and Grandpa, who seemed to think that Budweiser is the way to carb-load before a running event! ;)

 DJ and Jaylin making signs for their parents :)

More "Sissy Fun"

 Kaia eating fettuccini alfredo :) ...she is SO much more interested in table foods than Sophia was at 7 months, and eats quite a bit!

 Marathon weekend!!! It was so sad that Sophia was too sick for her "kid marathon" (the 1/2 mile). She was SO looking forward to it. But at least she is happy to have the t-shirt! :)

Sophia with big cousin, Jaylin, who ran in the 5k and did very well!

Kaia with Grandpa, who wore the T-shirt that we made for him for father's day last year for his 5k!

Lindsey pinning on Dennis' race bib. They both ran in the 5k.

The family of marathoners and supporters!

The 5k participants!

Carmen and Jaylin waiting to begin the 5k

The support team!

Uncle Kevin (far left, in back, with DJ on his shoulders) and Grandma Snooki (far right, red shirt around waist) ended up finding us Friday night and joined us to cheer for the 5k-ers and they cheered Laura on during her 1/2 marathon the next day, since the 1/2 route looped around Kevin's house.

Ava was so good!

Travis! He met his goal and is looking forward to the next race!

Dennis

The 5k finishers with their medals

Much of the family came back to Glyndon with us after the 5k and we all hung out until about 11pm, and then were up at 4am Saturday to get ready for my 10K and Laura's 1/2 marathon! Ouch! Travis and the girls were just a bit tired as they waited with me in the Fargo Dome :)

Ready to rock my marathon event, at about 6am!

Laura and I! My 10k started at 7am and Laura's 1/2 marathon started at 7:30!

Travis and the girls after my 10k... I am SO HAPPY with my race results! I finished the 10k in 49:19, which is a 7:57/mi pace! My goal had been to run faster than an 8:12/mi pace, since that's the Boston Marathon qualifying pace for my age/gender bracket. I smoked my goal! :)

After the marathon events wrapped up we ran home and changed, and then went back into town for Sophia's ballet practice and Lilly's 1st birthday party! Lilly is the daughter of my husband's good friend, Travis Nelson.

Travis' wife, Stephanie, organized some fun activities for the kids!

That's Stephanie with birthday girl Lilly in the foreground :)

Travis' brother, Lucas, with Kaia! Lucas was married last year and is starting to think about starting a family... I'd say he's a natural!

MORE excitement!!! On Sunday the 19th we added to our horse family! We purchased a 10 year old Palomino gelding, who we are calling Sunny. He's wonderful and beautiful!

Sunny is Sophia's dream horse :) but she won't be ready for him for a couple years... for now she will stick to her pony and Travis and I will get to work with Sunny!

Travis and Kaia, feeling happy to be outside!

Sophia loves picking flowers... there are wilted dandelions all over the house :)

Look at that hair!

How did we end up with such beautiful horses?? :)

Sunny, Margie and Pepper

Travis' best friend and Sophia's Godfather, Brandon, came over for a bit and helped out with constructing a 3rd horse stall.

Kaia is SO close to crawling! She does a move I call "the inchworm:" she pulls her knees under her and then slides foward on her tummy!

The boys, hard at work :)

Sophia and Kaia hanging out in bed before nap... I just love the sister action!

The 3rd stall!

And we are thrilled to meet all of the perrenials at our new home :) So glad winter finally decided to leave!!!

Happy spring! :)